First line of Against the Day?

[Ya Sam]

I wish that was something of a hunch belonging to a serendipitous and 
inquisitive mind... OK, seriously, I looked in several dictionaries for a 
good definiton of the nautical expression 'single up all the lines', and 
there was a definiton in the huge Webster's Third New International 
Dictionary under the heading of single (verb). I googled it without the 
article, i.e. 'single up all lines' and accidentally stumbled upon this 
passage from V. BTW, here is the classical definition: "to take in all 
bights of mooring lines on a ship except single lines preparatory to getting 
under way -- usu. used with up'.


>From: "Carvill John" <johncarvill at hotmail.com>
>To: takoitov at hotmail.com, pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: First line of Against the Day?
>Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2006 17:02:06 +0000
>
>Kudos!
>
>How did you find that?
>
>
>
>>
>>
>>"For it's said (and not without reason) that no sooner does a ship like 
>>the Scaffold single up all lines than certain Navy wives are out of their 
>>civvies and into barmaid uniform, flexing their beer-carrying arms and 
>>practicing a hooker's sweet smile; even as the N.O.B. band is playing Auld 
>>Lang Syne and the destroyers are blowing stacks in black flakes all over 
>>the cuckolds-to-be standing manly at attention, taking leave with me and a 
>>tiny grin."
>>
>>http://www.harperacademic.com/catalog/excerpt_xml.asp?isbn=0060930217
>>
>
>

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